₹33 crore collected for charity ahead of Sunday’s marathon

With a few days left for Tata Mumbai Marathon 2020 (TMM), various not-for-profit groups and citizens are trying to beat last year’s charity collections.This year, the marathon will be held on January 19.

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On Tuesday, United Way Mumbai, philanthropy partner for the event, announced at a press conference that the pre-event collection had crossed ₹33 crore and that funds will continue to be collected till and after the event. The amount has been collected by 291 NGOs, 204 corporates, and 14,000 runners.

Last year, ₹40.7 crore was raised towards charity by 272 NGOs, which marked an increase of over 18% against the previous year’s collection of ₹34.36 crore. Aarti Kakatkar, vice president, Procam International, organiser of the marathon, said the event had come a long way by collecting the amount they have collected this year, as compared to ₹1.4 crore that was collected in their first year.

“I believe that if our athletes set a target and take a leaf from these collectors, then the marathon would break records,” said Vivek B Singh, joint MD, Procam International.

Priya Dutt, who is representing the Nargis Dutt Foundation, emphasised that it is important for them to shed their inhibitions when they decided to contribute towards the cause. “When our family was deciding to raise the funds, we just had one thing in mind: That there is no shame in asking and no amount is too small because you are not asking for yourself,” said Dutt.